Pet
by FoxyWolfMeerkat
Summary: (AU) When one awakes in a place they don't fully understand, it frightens some, while others breed anger, hate, and above all else, confusion. He who controls the slumber they all delve into must face the facts that he is the one doing this to them. He must deal with those who wake and what they plan. (Mainly narrated by an OC. Many OCs be cautious.)
1. Frequent Wakers

You stared for a moment at the girl who'd waken. She was one of the frequent wakers, and certainly not dangerous unlike some others; at least so far. Human, long black hair, lilac eyes; eyes staring out the window of your complex into the safe darkness of the underground (or was it space; you were unsure at this point of anything more than the tower and the damned monsters you'd stolen all of them from) with some confusion. She turned to you.

"Where is this place? Where are my friends? Who are you? …What are you?"  
"Don't fret precious, I'm here. Step away from the window and follow me."

She stared back at you for a moment as though she didn't understand, but your little Knight of Doom had always been so intuitive; soon she did as you asked, following you back to her chamber.

Granted, it was not hers alone; all the humans were here, but you did not let her innocent mind know that.

"Lay down child; go back to sleep."

She nodded gently, the movement hardly noticeable, at least, it would be to one used to her moving about. You were not in this category. She then laid herself back on her dark green slate, the energies around it quickly pulling her back into the safe state.

Frequent wakers like her only existed because you had the facility focus more of the energy on those who were dangerous; who would cause havoc if they woke at the wrong time; and your lovely, darling sister. She would never approve of this; she'd rather they all die fighting than live without their permission.

You'd seen the outcome of her ignorant world however. Painful for her, and an end for everything. Most of the elders hated you for what they knew you were going to do; but one taught you how to build the sMachine. You didn't know what the s stood for, but you liked to guess things like sleep, supposition, shield, storage, salvation, or safeguarding.

For now you took stock: Forty-eight Trolls, correct, sixteen Humans, correct, one young Cherub, correct sadly, and one Seralp; your sister, correct. Safely tucked away from the monstrous Cherubs ending the universe outside your safe tower.

You loved to look at them all; peaking into their shared dream. In it you prepared them. In the dream their homes were gone. In reality, it was the same. Family was gone as well. If you knew pity you were sure you'd feel it.

To save energy monitoring the dream you'd 'killed' some of them off. Oh they would be happy to see one another again once the time came to wake them. You'd also combined the 'games' they were in for the same reason; this had changed much of the 'game' as it went, but many died regardless of the change, just not _exactly_ the same few.

You flew up to where you kept your sister, whispering into her ear so nothing else could pollute her thoughts for the time being.

"Pay no mind what other voices say, they don't care about you like I do."

Also, so she wouldn't feel the pain that she'd never learned the meaning of. You knew; the pain of the dying. She only picked up on the important ones in the long run; and when the war began, oh god the way she sung, or was it screaming? Oddly none could tell, including herself.

You'd been so young when it started, you and she. While you could slow, slow, slow the aging of the others, you couldn't stop her. Nor yourself. If cherubs were angels you were gods, but at your own bodies your power ceased. Pathetic, but balancing in the only way you could be. There were many more cherubs then there were of yours, but one of your own could take down hundreds without being run down. But hundreds couldn't match what there had been. Luckily, they fought among themselves as well. Once your army was ready surely you could destroy most of what was left.

* * *

The Knight of Time was another frequent waker; though he pretended it wasn't the case. He'd clamp his eyes shut tight trying to sleep again while the energies around him failed to do what they needed for some reason. You liked watching him, hearing him curse and squirm till you had mercy and turned the energy on him up just a tiny bit. His lovely red eyes would flash open just a moment, and he'd let out a little gasp; all on reflex, then he'd be back in the safe, but at times cruel world he preferred to the dark chambers around him.

One you enjoyed having wake up was a troll girl (only barely not a woman by troll standards but you didn't really care about that fact). She'd gush over 'how lovely it was not to be dead-looking in his bubble'; my my that you had one so intelligent as herself so tricked. Though, she did strike you as one who might have been one of your kind in another life: she could speak of terribly grim things with such a sweet little smile, and such enthusiasm. You could listen to the Sylph of Light drawl and ramble on for quite some time before suggesting she returned to her 'bubble'.

Sometimes ones that made you sad would wake up, Heir of Breath, Heir of Space, sometimes Knight of Doom did it to you, Heir of Doom, Witch of Space as of late, Mage of Doom, Rogue of Light, Knight of Blood, Seer of Blood (though he could also be terribly annoying), Sylph of Hope, Page of Time for sometime now, Prince of Hope was like that as well.

You hated it, that they could look you in the eye and make you think 'maybe this is wrong'.


	2. Knight of Blood

You woke up with a violent jerk. Wait, woke up? Didn't you just get stabbed in the chest? Didn't you just DIE? You look down at yourself. Nope, no blood, or even one of the should-be-there three gaping holes in your chest. Which is good you guess? Where are you is a better question you think; it's not like any dream bubble you've ever been in but it is vaguely familiar.

The room you are in is huge and empty. But as you look around it, it doesn't feel empty at all. Looking in some places makes you really pissed off, and others… really, really happy. …You must be crazy because there isn't anything here, and it's dark. Maybe you should take a look around this place, couldn't hurt, and maybe you'll run into someone you know.

You stand from the dark red slab you were laying on, which seems to be hooked to a machine of some kind. It almost looks like an over-sized wave-translating device with no speakers and only one tuning knob. You figured it probably didn't do anything good, and opted to leave it alone.

Out of temptation, you moved over to your right; one of the places that made you feel really good for some reason: and you ran into something the same height and thickness as your slab but… invisible? Reaching your hands forward you found that the invisible slab had an invisible someone on it. You couldn't help but explore further, the chest was moving evenly and was smooth, so it was probably a guy, and he was so thin…. Reaching up further you found his face; and in turn a set of fangs and some glasses. Was it? No, that's fucking stupid; your hands went further and… two god damn horns on each side of his head. It was him, Sollux! The invisibility faded, revealing him in all of his sleeping, peaceful, unharmed glory.

You stared; this had to be some kind of sick dream. Sollux's front fangs were gone after all. Don't you dare fucking cry. A deep, deep breath and you turned away. If the rest of the room was going to be filled with your friends like this you didn't want to see it. It hurt too much to think that it wasn't even real.

Stepping outside the huge room, you found a place large enough to be a colosseum. It was lighter here, even though all of the windows showed nothing at all but black, pitch and showing no signs of ending. Rather than going to the windows, you focused on finding where that light could be coming from. You traveled to the middle of the room; the place where it was oddly darkest, and looked up.

It was like a chandelier, only it was capped at the bottom. You couldn't help but stand and stare. Out of this whole gloom filled place, that was something glorious and beautiful and bright and it just didn't fit with anything else you'd seen.

"You need to return to your place child."

The voice was as comforting as it was stern, the hand that was suddenly on your shoulder was very solid and large. The fear from the shift of no longer being alone made you go stiff and still; which wasn't much like you. You'd usually fight or run or _something at least_.

He soon turned you toward him. He was about the size of the average full grown troll, which as of yet left him daunting compared to your stature. He had two sets of wings, the larger pair black, and above the other, which was much too small to assist in flying for all you could imagine, white in color. His skin was a shade that would probably fit a dead human; pale enough that it was a blue-ish opalescence.

As he guided you back to the room with the slab(s? Sollux was no longer visible, maybe you'd imagined that…) and asked you to sit. When you finally got your voice you asked why you had to.

"You'll be safe."  
"From what?!"  
"Pain, truth, choice, all the little devils that could never fucking care for you."

Everything was getting so hazy already as you laid down; there was no way you could just fall asleep like this….

* * *

You watched him fall back to sleep, the Knight of Blood. He, like any other blood player who woke up (along with the Hope ones), always found the place where your sister slept. Drawn to her like moths to the moon, or something akin to this. You kept the place around her beautiful as she deserved, lit and glittering. The source of light to this place aside from the sMachine and it's small, personal extensions.

After you were sure he was well into sleep; not to clearly remember a thing he heard or felt or saw here, you turned to the Mage of Doom. Had he been disturbed by the Knight's interference? It didn't look like it; and now that you'd 'switched off' the voices in his dream he did not wake nearly so often. Which was good; for he almost always made moves to find, and usually wake, the Maid of Time.

She woke very often, and she rarely moved from her place, but rather focused to commune with your sister; their mental capabilities well-suited to each other. So much so you opted to fool the girl in her dreams into believing your sister was just some doppelganger of herself, one of many just to be safe.

Sadly, such tricks did not work with your sister.

You didn't know if this meant simply that she knew better or that her mental powers were beyond your own: perhaps just contained due to the machine that held her and the others. Your powers were as much of the mind as they were the world around you; you could rip one of the humans or trolls to shreds in seconds if you so felt the need. A cherub would take longer, but again, easy enough to do. Of course, combined with what you could do physically is what made you such a terrible force to oppose.

Again, you did your rounds. Forty-eight Trolls, sixteen Humans, one Cherub, and your one Seralp. Should you count yourself as one of the Seralps? Or would that just be stupid? You didn't know. You opted just to speak to your sister about this and other matters; perhaps she could find some way to answer.


	3. Rogue and Heir

You were having trouble finding words for this; or at least words greater in eloquence than 'What the ever-living fuck?'.

The human adult male stood in front of you, looking mostly tired. Not confused about you, or this place. How he'd survived the Cherubs was worlds beyond your comprehension, and his mind was too messy to sort through. A lot of what you found was… horses? You couldn't really read this miracle man, but you would keep him here; maybe he could help after all.

You left him to wander with the inability to mess with anything (you surely couldn't trust this man with any of the sMachine extensions) but he could see whatever he damn well pleased. You sort of doubted you'd be able to work him into the game with the others, his mind didn't seem so easily worked.

Then again, all the others had been (and hadn't aged too much sense) children when you'd started; and a child was so mold-able, fresh and new idea sponges.

You finally found how he got in. The fourth window was shattered around the floor. It didn't take much to fix, but it was rather irritating.

* * *

Now and then you could hear pounding; not from any particular direction, but all around. They'd found you but they couldn't get in yet. You were not ready and you would not let them. For now you needed to begin on something more important than preservation. So you awoke one you'd 'killed off' in the dream.

The Rogue of Heart stretched herself out on the deep pink slate, the energy from the machine no longer around the slab to keep her in the safe state. She didn't seem eager to wake for some reason. For now you would work with her only, her moirail would be next if she behaved.

She finally jumped up at the sound of more pounding.

"Pay no mind to the rabble. You are in one of the safest places in the universe. For now at least."  
"You wouldn't just toss me out right?!"  
"No. Of course not."

You signaled for the troll girl to follow you, which she did without a complaint. In turn you led her to a training room; giving her the claws she'd fought with in the dream. You'd stolen the materials from somewhere outside and put them together just as you had all of their weapons.

"Prepare here. You know where to go to sleep; if you need food you will be able to find the kitchen without assistance. Stay away from the windows and the strange man about. That is all."

She equipped the claws quietly; you knew she understood without her needing to answer. You also knew that she missed her moirail above all, so you likely shouldn't wait too long on that.

* * *

Her agility was magnificent; she moved quickly enough that she practically flew and her aim was a lovely match to this. She did as you asked, even if it was just an inkling of an idea in her mind. Already she was close to being as perfect as you could make her.

As a reward you woke the Heir of Void, guiding him to her quickly for the half earned reunion. It was interesting to watch, to say the least; and how he didn't crush her in his excitement was beyond you. You left them to continue their practice, hopefully his strength would be a nice match to her agility as their personalities apparently were to each other.

He learned quickly you found, though he seemed disappointed by the lack of bows available to him (he was more useful without them after all, and that's how you wanted it) but he did not complain much. They worked together brilliantly; beyond what you'd hoped even, which made now the perfect time to put the finishing touches on the girl.

She walked out by your order, as though in a daze and un-hearing of anything but your commanding voice. This frightened the Heir, whom at first tried to stop her. You had to put a shield around the center where you waited for her so he wouldn't follow her in. He watched; scared at first but he would calm down soon enough.

You smiled at her tiny figure before you, for now accepting of anything you might ask of her; what you were about to do might change that. You reached forward, securing a hand to her head, careful not to block her eyes. You focused on the abilities of the 'God Tier' you'd designated her with, giving her mental and physical abilities that matched it. Granted, you didn't give her wings; those would be more problematic for her than they would be helpful.

She whimpered as her mind escaped the full control of your own, her pupils thinning as she came to her senses; the Heir calling for her in concern, though it was pointless worry. Lastly, you gave her the ability to adjust from her robes to her normal wear and change them however she might please. Might as well after all. The robes melted onto her in a way you hoped would appear almost magical rather than anything too abrupt.

With that last touch you backed off; releasing both her and the shield to let her and her moirail explore what had taken place on their own time.


	4. Pace Increase

Slowly you awoke more of them, changing them each in roughly the same order. The Heir of Void was changed before you woke the Knight of Doom. She was changed a bit early as her abilities would assist in her fighting, though you found that compared to the two Trolls she was a bit more… questioning. Perhaps it was because she lacked a companion? With that in mind you woke the Witch of Space.

The first thing she did upon her release was outright sob. All that fell from her mouth, apologies and pleas to the human god, were welcomed to your ears as they were to the Knight. The girl embraced the other, comforting her, hushing and cooing, telling her of this place and that everything would be fine. You left the Witch's rifle at the door, she'd soon need it.

The very next day you woke the Heir of Breath, whom was much more curious than upset. Oh how glad he was to see the Witch of Space back to normal; a lovely reunion to watch to say the least. The Knight of Doom agreed with you, her smile and thoughts to her own ecto-brother, making you decide on your next to awake: the Page of Heart.

The Page, having been in a similar state to the Witch, was in a similarly terrible state when he woke. Luckily, the Knight of Doom was happy to help again, perhaps even more so.

With six out of the game, and all of the humans having still been 'in-play' when you removed them, the game was starting to glitch. You wondered if it would instill panic, though you didn't think the many remaining players would think a thing of it.

* * *

You God Tiered all of the newly awaken humans as soon as they were all ready, then set on the next wave. Mage of Doom first, and he spend his first day up with the Rogue of Heart and the Heir of Void, having seizures as he fought to get his complex brain chemistry back in order after it being both ignored and subdued for so long. Luckily he managed it and began training.

Next was the Mage of Blood, whom struggled with the same problem similarly and equally as valiantly, and soon the two Mages trained together for the sake of their psionics, and for the Mage of Blood's sawkind, he trained namely with the Rogue of Heart.

The fifth troll you woke was the Prince of Hope, who trained with the Knight of Doom as the others mostly refused to interact with him, though the Rogue of Heart was kind enough to make the occasional exception. The next two you brought out together, the Thief of Doom and the Seer of Breath. The Thief of Doom was at times a casteist, though her focus was against the Ochre caste, and being woken alongside one whom tried to save her at one point was both humiliating and strangely enlightening; as you'd hoped.

Next were a pair of humans, whose absence would badly glitch the game, the Maid of Life alongside the Rogue of Life. A charming couple, though their boldness had been humbled by the hostile take-over of each of their minds. After them was the Page of Hope and the Heir of Space, and they would glitch the game as well, though not quite as badly.

Another two the day after, the Witch of Life and the Bard of Heart; potential rulers, though the Bard's blood wasn't quite as perfect to the old Empire as the Witch's would have been, and he would have been deemed a 'Lesser' Fushcia. Following them you woke the Thief of Light alone, making for ten waking trolls out of the forty-eight. The last of this wave were four at once, the Sylph of Light, the Heir of Mind, the Maid of Light, and the Rogue of Light, leaving all of the Trolls with the aspect of Light awake.

* * *

A few days later you choose to wake the Knight of Life before summoning your growing group. It was more difficult to influence the Mage of Doom than it had been for the Rogue of Heart or the Heir of Void, or any of the humans, but you got to work quickly nevertheless. An unexpected turn of events when you were done with him was that, as soon as you were done, he reacted by using his psionics to blast you solidly into a wall. You disciplined him swiftly by returning the favor, then returned to your work. The other psionic, the Mage of Blood, held himself back from making the same mistake. All the others you God Tiered that day gave you no issues.

You chatted quietly later with the Sylph of Light, carefully using the conversation to recover some sanity from having your Soul Sister comatose for so long. The Sylph dressed for her mother, whom, thanks to your influence, she referred to as her ancestor, were she not claiming to be lovely Spinneret herself. She, more so than the others strangely, ignored the pounding that was so commonplace.

"Why do you ignore it?"  
"Ignore what?"  
"The war drums."  
She laughed coldly, "If they are war drums, then I finally know what all this training is about!"  
You scowled in return, "Why disregard them however?"  
"They're just background noise in the scheme of things, no matter what they represent!"

Once the conversation was long over, you looked out one of the windows, into the black shielding your tower. It was cracking now; the cherubs breaking in, throwing themselves against it. The strange man joined you, face grim with the knowledge of what was coming. Such thick lips looked poor in a frown, you found yourself thinking, though, such a thing was to be expected in the future ahead. Unhappiness in all of it's various ugly forms. Forms like understanding, knowledge, burdens, pain, sadness, anger, and other nonesuch losses.

At the end of many days you'd watch those you'd waken from your sister's open chamber, murmuring to her about the day's events, who you could wake next, and other such small talk. Today you included your fears over having too badly harmed the children, you didn't really mean to traumatize, just to harden, but the game had gotten out of your control at times. Children, en mass as they were here, could be quite powerful after all. The rampages of the Bard of Rage and the Rogue of Space were examples of this, happening at the same time and killing the Rogue of Heart, the Heir of Void, the Seer of Breath, and the Thief of Doom in such quick succession really that you couldn't stop it.

You felt pretty bad for that really.


End file.
